After Visiting 10 Countries, This Gamer Has Seen Every Piece of Art From 'Animal Crossing' (EXCLUSIVE)

When it launched in 2020, Animal Crossing: New Horizons took the world by storm. The adorable social-sim offers a bit of everything — from fishing and crafting to chatting with neighbors to collecting famous artwork, there’s a cozy way to keep busy in the world of Animal Crossing.

Fast forward to today, and one enthusiastic player has decided to bring his love for collecting virtual Animal Crossing artwork into real life, as he's spent the last 16 months traveling to museums to visit all 43 exhibits featured in New Horizons.

The creator, MayPlaysTV (real name Mayuren "May" Naidoo), has officially seen all 43 pieces of art after traveling to 10 countries, 17 cities, and 29 museums. It’s an incredible feat, and one that May sums up perfectly in a recent post to Twitter.

“In April 2022, I set the goal to visit all 43 artworks from Animal Crossing: New Horizons in real life,” reads the post. “16 months later, three continents later, 10 countries later, 17 cities later, 29 museums later, I have seen… 43/43.”

In an exclusive interview with Distractify, MayPlaysTV opened up about completing the exciting feat.

The amount of planning that went into the effort is staggering.

May spoke with Distractify via DM, and revealed that trying to view "The Great Wave" artwork was a particular challenge, as "none were on exhibition, as they are protected due to [their] age." Luckily, after a lengthy process, he managed to get into the archives at the Library of Congress for a viewing.

May was also impressed by the Statue of David, telling Distractify he "didn't expect it to be so big in person."

Animal Crossing fans have been quick to praise May for accomplishing his goal.

“Congratulations,” wrote one fan. “Must feel good to set out a goal that can take years, but through perseverance, you’ve pushed all the way through! Well done!”

Another notes that, not only is this “incredible,” but “Blathers will be so proud!”

Traveling to these far-flung destinations wasn’t just time-consuming — it was also expensive.

“God, how rich are you to afford this,” asked one Twitter user.

As it turns out, May was able to make the trip “very affordable” by booking his flights in advance.

“Flights between Europe are very affordable when you book in advance,” May said. “Booked my US trip with Black Friday deals traveling in the coldest week of the year, and was fortunately hosted in Japan last month by TPCI [The Pokémon Company International].”

The artwork in Animal Crossing: New Horizons carries names such as “Basic Painting” and “Beautiful Statue,” but all 43 works of art are based on real-life masterpieces. Pieces in the catalog include The Thinker by Auguste Rodin, David by Michelangelo, and The Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh.

Visiting all 43 meant May needed to put together a meticulous travel schedule — one which would take him around the world to 10 different countries.

The journey wasn’t just personally fulfilling, as the video is garnering serious attention on social media. At the time of writing, the latest video in the series has over 260 thousand views on TikTok alone. That’s an incredible achievement, and there’s a good chance it’ll earn May a bundle of new followers.

May’s also trying to catch the eye of Nintendo, tagging not just Nintendo America, Nintendo Europe, and Nintendo UK in his post, but also Nintendo boss Doug Bowser. His comment to them?

“[Please] notice me,” he said.

And after spending more than a year chasing down this incredible feat, here’s hoping he gets on their radar.